Walk through the history of St. Paul's oldest neighborhood. This walk takes 45-60 minutes with stops if you stroll at a leisurely pace. If you're planning on getting curbside pick-up from one the local restaurants make sure you've placed your order to coincide with the time when you'll finish up. If you drive to the neighborhood, park for free at the Minnesota Historical Society's Alexander Ramsey House.
The Minnesota Historical Society affirms that every community owes its existence and vitality to generations from around the world who contributed their hopes, dreams, and energy to making the history that led to this moment. Some were brought here against their will, some were drawn to leave their distant homes in hope of a better life, and some have lived on this land for more generations than can be counted. Truth and acknowledgment are critical to building mutual respect and connection across all barriers of heritage and difference. The Minnesota Historical Society begins this effort to acknowledge what has been buried by honoring the truth. You are in the ancestral lands of the Dakota People which they ceded via the Treaty of 1837. We pay respects to their elders past and present and ask you to take a moment to consider the many historical legacies that bring people together in this place today.
From here you can easily access any of the numerous restaurants on West 7th Street, but we're going to highlight three of those that are nearby and locally-owned. Before you go, please call or check their websites (listed here) for hours, information about ordering online, indoor or outdoor dining, curbside pick-up, or take-out. And please wear a mask to protect the servers and staff who make our enjoyment of these places possible and keep St. Paul's oldest neighborhood a vibrant place.
Walk one block north on Walnut Street and out of the Irvine Park District back to Exchange Street, which is where you began your walk. There are only three more stops on the tour: the Alexander Ramsey House at 265 Exchange Street; the Forepaugh House at 276 Exchange Street, and a brief stop at the corner of Exchange and Sherman Streets
You’re gazing upon heavily-trafficked streets, the Science Museum parking lot, the Excel Center, condos, and the river down below. It’s not exactly a scenic vista, so why look? Because this is the oldest section of the city of St. Paul. It is where St. Paul began. And it is where you will begin your walk. Soooooo, why start a city here?
You're about to walk into Irvine Park, the first St. Paul subdivision. Places like Irvine Park can feel as if they have always been what they are today, but people have altered it along with the city. The park and the homes around it tell stories of power, change, and choices in St. Paul. As you explore the district consider: Why does the park look and feel the way it does? Why are the homes built here still standing? Why might preservationists have chosen to save these particular relocated homes by moving them here? What do their stories reveal about the decisions St. Paulites have made about the built landscape of Irvine Park?
After 1851 the landing would change many times. The first major shifts occurred during the 1850s when the international fur trade collapsed and Minnesota and US officials and American business interests began calculating the money to be made by buying and speculating on the resale of the Dakota homelands and the historic territories of the Ojibwe and Ho Chunk people.
In 1850 St. Paul had been the capital of the US Territory of Minnesota for one year and had a population of about 900 people. It was on the verge of an economic and population boom fueled by two conjoined factors: The United States' forcible removal of Dakota people from a huge swathe of their homelands between St. Paul south to the Iowa border that ramped up in 1851. And a nationwide land speculation boom brought thousands of colonists to the ceded Dakota homelands. So, if you'd been here in this spot in 1850, the year before, what could you still have seen, smelled, and heard?
Numerous historic homes surround Irvine Park. Roughly a third of them are not original to their current location but were moved here in the 1970s (we'll explore why in a bit). This is one of the relocated houses. Built in 1850 by a Scottish sea captain, this has been identified as the oldest home in St. Paul. Have questions about how a sea captain fared in St.Paul or how a 170-year-old wooden house is still standing? See info below!
Next, we will walk around the square and explore the histories of some of the historic homes of Irvine Park. They were built in a variety of styles and have lived long and sometimes interesting lives. These homes are lived in. Please keep that in mind as you enjoy the neighborhood. Let's begin with 59 Irvine Park, the turreted cream brick house at the park's northeast corner.
Walk to the center of the park if you are able. From here you will be able to enjoy its peace and loveliness and take a close look at its ornate central fountain while also being able to take in the surrounding housing. Note: The City of St. Paul is not currently operating or servicing the fountain due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Starting in the 1950s St. Paulities, especially economically-mobile white families, began leaving the city for life in the suburbs, along with large employers and big commercial hubs like department stores. This trickle of change continued through the 1960s. When the dual blows of a recession and the fuel crisis hit in the 1970s, St. Paul was grappling, like hundreds of other American cities, with surging population loss and commercial disinvestment that meant more empty homes and buildings and less tax revenue and economic vitality to support the city and its neighborhoods.
Walk to the place where Walnut Street dead-ends at an overlook to the river below. The park is located atop of steep bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. What you see below you today is not what the builders of the houses around you would have seen prior to the mid-20th century.
As you walk the southern side of Irvine Park, knowing what you do about this district, consider again what the homes that were built here and those that were relocated here reveal for you the choices St. Paulites have made about Irvine Park. A Note About 1970s Renovations: By the 1970s city inspectors had declared most of the homes around the park substandard housing. The preservation-minded people who purchased them qualified for municipal and federal grant programs that offered the houses for as little as $1.00 in exchange for their promise to renovate and restore the properties.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
Get a QR Code for this tour
Walk through the history of St. Paul's oldest neighborhood. This walk takes 45-60 minutes with stops if you stroll at a leisurely pace. If you're planning on getting curbside pick-up from one the local restaurants make sure you've placed your order to coincide with the time when you'll finish up. If you drive to the neighborhood, park for free at the Minnesota Historical Society's Alexander Ramsey House.
